Nice video about KDE4 pretending to be Win7 and people thinking so too. The only thing they should have mentioned at the end is that it’s not Win7 but KDE4/Linux. Would love to see how average people respond to that 
Is it Windows 7 or KDE 4?: Insight - Software - ZDNet Australia
Very amusing
And I gotta agree with them, first time I was shown windows 7 by a friend of mine I thought he was running some tweaked KDE.
Shame it wouldn’t work out as good for those people if they actually were to use it though. If they already can’t find their way around after switching from XP to Vista they wouldn’t do to well in a switch from Vista to KDE.
Heh heh I recognise the location, it’s Pitt Street Mall in Sydney CBD.
I take that as a compliment to GUIs on Linux in general. Years ago, Linux was regarded as something geeky and only suitable for people willing to type arcane commands at funny things called terminals. (People like me, for example.lol!) Now a Linux desktop is second to none.
The fact is, these people on the street just want things to work. Sure, the M$ and Apple names have more clout and some people will buy on the basis of that. But whatever the system, it’s gotta work. If you tell them, no you can’t subscribe to this tune site because Linux doesn’t have the plugins or whatever, their eyes will glaze over. That’s why I don’t want to install Linux for people unless they want it and know what they are getting into. I don’t want a constant stream of “but it works on my brother-in-law’s machine” requests. That’s is why I am happy to let Ubuntu try for the role of idiot-proof Linux. Once you get the user percentages of Linux up, no matter what distro, service providers have to pay attention to this sector of the market.
I remember another timemark some years back, seeing Linux listed as a supported OS on a bus-stop ad for a Samsung (I think) laser printer. Unfortunately the low end still has lots of proprietary protocol inkjet printers.
That’s the thing. I’ve found if you set up as system for a ‘normal person’, who hasn’t got much invested in Windows, they are very happy with it. It gets the “just works” seal of approval.
OOo can even be mistaken for Word by users. In one case I had angry comment about Linux, only to find the real issue was that the user had booted into Windows by mistake, and their trouble was caused by IE7, not being Firefox so something was bust, and the “Linux isn’t Windows therefore it must be the problem” was the emotional reaction.
Of course they wouldn’t get on so well, if left a drift, and relying on hardware advice and support of shops and such.